16Jan14

Al Nusrah Front suicide bomber kills 5 in attack on Hezbollah

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant claimed credit for today's
bombing in the Lebanese city of Hermel. The attack is the latest by al
Qaeda-affiliated groups that have targeted Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Today's bombing in Hermel, a city near the border with Syria in the
Hezbollah-dominated Bekaa Valley, took place at rush hour near a
government building, the Daily Star reported.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, one of two official al Qaeda
branches that operate in Syria, released a statement on Twitter claiming credit
for the attack.

"By the grace of Allah, a stronghold of the Party of Iran [Hezbollah] was
shaken in a martyrdom-seeking operation whose knight was one of the lions of
the Al Nusrah Front in Lebanon," the group said, according to the SITE
Intelligence Group, which obtained the tweets.

The Al Nusrah Front, whose emir publicly renewed his allegiance to Ayman al
Zawahiri last year, said that the bombing was carried out "in response to the
crimes that the party is perpetrating against the women and children of the
Sunni people in Syria."

Today's bombing is the third major suicide attack and car bombing in Lebanon
carried out by al Qaeda-affiliated groups against Iran and Hezbollah since
mid-November 2013. The al Qaeda groups have advocated attacking Iranian
and Hezbollah interests in Lebanon due to the former's involvement in the
Syrian civil war.

On Nov. 19, 2013, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades took responsibility for the
suicide attack outside of the Iranian embassy in Beirut that killed 23 people,
including Iran's cultural attache. Just over a month later, Majid bin Muhammad
al Majid, a Saudi jihadist who led the group, was captured and then died in
custody shortly afterward. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades was established by
one of Abu Musab al Zarqawi's lieutenants.

And on Jan. 14, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham claimed credit for the
Jan. 2 car bombing in Beirut that killed four people and wounded more than
70. The attack, which may have been executed by a suicide bomber, took
place outside of Hezbollah's political office in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik.

The ISIS described that attack as occurring "[a]t a time when the security
efforts of the Islamic State were able to break the boundaries and penetrate
the security system of the Rafidah [Shi'ite] Party of Satan [Hezbollah] in
Lebanon, and to crush its strongholds in the heart of its home in what is called
the security zone in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday, 30 Safar
1435H [2 January 2014], in a first small payment from the heavy account that
is awaiting those wicked criminals...", according to a statement that was
obtained and translated by SITE.

[Source: By Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal, NJ, 16Jan14]

This document has been published on 27Jan14 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.